This invention relates to tourniquets, and in particular a disposable tourniquet which can be easily stored, readily deployed, and comprises only one piece when assembled.
Tourniquets are used on a patient's limbs for many purposes, but primarily to capture blood flow in a vein for removal of a sample and subsequent testing. Tourniquets run the gamut from lengths of cloth that are simply tied about a limb, elastic bands that are tied about a limb, or cloth strips having hook-and-loop fasteners for temporarily securing the strip in place about a patient's limb.
All such prior art devices share one common feature--they are all reusable, and are therefore susceptible to contamination. Since all such tourniquets are relatively expensive, it is prohibitively expensive to use the tourniquet one time and then dispose it. As a result, such tourniquets are used time and again, with the resultant risk of disease transmission.
U.S Pat. No. 3,930,506 discloses a disposable tourniquet made of a plastic band which has a pressure sensitive adhesive for adhering the two ends of the band to one another when drawn about a patient's arm. The adhesive is protected by a peel away liner which must be removed and discarded when the tourniquet is used. Thus, in addition to the disposable tourniquet, the doctor, nurse or other person using the tourniquet must be concerned with disposing of the protective liner. While the disposable tourniquet of this patent is a substantial improvement over non-disposable tourniquets, the peel away liner is a detriment.